a robyns nest

As far as I'm concerned.....this should be a national holiday.  Hell...while we're at it, let's just go ahead and make  ALL fiber festivals into national holidays.  Alpacapalooza anyone?

 

There is something magical about throwing a bunch of fiber addicts into a room together....fill that room with various blends and textures and colours (oh the colours!) of fiber and......well, let's just say I saw a lot of happy people today ;)  I heard more than one contented sigh as I watched people of all ages lovingly petting hanks and skeins of wool. 

The Sheep to Shawl folks were out in force again this year.  Read the rules on the website....this is serious business people.  

Aaannnnd....you didn't really expect that I would come home empty-handed, did you?  That's 4 oz's of goodness right there.

I stopped short of this guy though....please mom...can I have him?  Puuh-leeeaase?

Will you be mine....?

  

I've been playing around with a new set of watercolour pencils the past few evenings.  I'm trying to come up with little Valentines Day packages for each of the kids...probably a little hand-painted valentine like the one above for each of them, and then....???  I'd like to sew something (simple) for each monkey too...just not sure what.  Pj pants?  A toy??  I'd love ideas, pretty please....I'm drawing a complete and total blank.  What do you think about these little guys?  Is it weird to give a bat for Valentines Day?

I finished these lovelies up last night (apologies for the slightly out of focus cables)....a relatively simple pattern, Symmetrical Braided Gauntlets, free on Ravelry! 

Just in time for our 72 degree weather....sigh.

a rainy weekend...

 

...makes for some very happy vegetables apparently...oh, and snails too, but we won't talk about them....grrr...

 

Some wee carrots emerging next to a forest of beets and kale. 

What's funny about our winter garden this year is that other than the carrots, I'm not all that fond of anything growing in it!  I tried some complicated psychology on myself this fall...I figured that I would eat anything I grew, simply because I cannot stand to let snails, caterpillars etc, eat what they haven't worked for.  Is that completely weird?   It's working though....we've been eating kale for weeks now, and I'm getting ready to juice some beets this morning (the only way I consider them even remotely palatable).

Rainy weekends also inspire knitting....

Oh, and I added a few new Inspiring links, over to the left.  Check them out when you have some time today :)

currently...

 

...on the needles.  I'll need all your prayers for this project...I have serious problems with Second Sock Syndrome (actually, to be completely honest, I have problems with second anything... second mitten, second glove, second baby bootie...)

 

This yarn has been in my stash for a couple of years now...picked up during a super sale at my LYS, before we moved from Halifax.  But it's SUCH a good deal....it would be a shame to pass it up...I'll regret not getting it... you know how that conversation goes ;) 

Actually, these socks are part of my attempt to be more mentally in the present than I usually am...nothing like knitting a semi-complicated pattern to keep you fully present in each moment!  A form of meditation, if you will...

 

I finally got around to dusting off my beloved old Ashford spinning wheel a few days ago.  I've been enjoying spinning in the evenings lately.  This fiber from Crown Mountain Farms is simpy delicious.  It's handpainted merino....need I say more?  The colorway is Crazy Love, which based on what I can tell from their website, they don't sell anymore.  But I've also used the Oh Pretty Woman colorway, and it turns out like this...

 

I was in love with those pinks and chocolatey browns at the time (still am, come to think of it)....oh, and that's my Super Girl at six months ;) 

Enjoy your Fall weekend, everyone. 

 

Officially my new favorite thing....chalk pastels from Discount School Supply.  Purchased to go with these....which we have made, but not hung up yet...so you'll just have to wait for those pics. Sadly, the dark blue one arrived in two pieces :(

And.....for all of you who have been waiting with baited breath....okay, maybe I was the only one...

 

It's finally done.  Weekend project my a*s!  Ha!  But, I love it.....and I probably won't take it off until Christmas.  Maybe longer.

A happy weekend to everyone.... go play in a pumpkin patch, it's good for the soul :)

procrastination....

at least that's what some people would call it.   I, on the other hand, choose to call it A Moment of Meditation....or, The Calm During the Storm.  Take your pick.  Either way it beats packing ;)

It must be Fall...or least approaching it (says she who is looking at an outdoor thermometer that reads 105 degrees), because I am finally thinking about knitting again.    In the past week it seems that inspiration is around every corner,  hence three new items in my Inspiration column.  The project in the picture above is this pattern by Kay Dahlquist.  And the yarn came from my new best friends at Eat. Sleep. Knit. (okay, we've never actually met.  but I am open to being BFF's if they are....just let me know Erin!)  It's Dream In Color - Classy....a seriously yummy hand-dyed, worsted weight merino. YUM.

The simple pattern repeat makes this the ideal project for working on in between fits of packing.  I can pick it up and put it down again feeling fairly assured that I'll be able to figure out where I left off.  That makes me happy.   Packing and preparing to move with a two year old running behind me      "hepin' "?  Not so much.

Breathe mama, breathe.